Trump Signs Bill Allowing Return of Whole Milk in Schools

President Donald Trump signed the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act on Jan. 14, overhauling previous Department of Agriculture guidelines that required milk served in school cafeterias to be fat-free or low-fat. It was the first bill signed by the president in 2026.

Now, schools have the freedom to serve whole milk, flavored or unflavored, as well as organic milk.

The Senate passed the bill unanimously in November; it easily cleared the House a month later. It was sent to Trump on Jan. 6.

During a signing ceremony in the Oval Office, the president reversed an Obama-era policy that banned whole milk in public schools.

“Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, whole milk is a great thing,” Trump said. “This is the perfect follow-up to the new real food pyramid.”

The president was surrounded by Cabinet members, members of Congress from both parties who worked on the legislation, and fifth- and sixth-generation farmers, including a farmer from Butler, Pennsylvania, who milks 40 to 60 cows and one from Wisconsin who milks about 5,000 cows.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said U.S. agriculture was expanded to 24 additional markets in the past year, reversing a negative trend under President Joe Biden.

“These are massive, massive wins for America,” she said.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called the law a long-overdue correction.

“When schools limit milk choices, the kids don’t move to healthier substitutes,” he said. “Milk fat is not junk food.”

Dr. Ben Carson, the Agriculture Department’s national nutrition adviser, said there is abundant scientific evidence showing that whole milk nourishes young brains.

“When you pour the stuff that looks like dishpan water [low-fat milk], the kids don’t want that,” he said.

Sen. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said this change will bolster youth interest in agriculture; children will be excited to take field trips to local farms to see how milk is produced.

“That’s good for America,” he said. “It’s not a [partisan] deal.”

The legislation also stipulates that schools must provide milk substitutes to students with dietary restrictions upon presentation of a letter from a parent or licensed physician.

Additionally, liquid milk no longer counts toward the 10 percent maximum allowance of saturated fat calories.

Rep. John Mannion (D-N.Y.), who sponsored the House bill, previously said this legislation goes a long way in helping U.S. dairy farmers while also providing students the diets they need to “thrive in the classroom.”

“As a teacher for almost 30 years, I saw firsthand how proper nutrition supports student success,” said Mannion, whose district contains many dairy farms.

A 2012 federal law prohibited school cafeterias from serving whole milk, which led to a significant decline in student milk consumption in the past decade, according to Mannion’s Dec. 15 statement.

In the two years between 2014 and 2016 alone, schools served 213 million fewer half-pints of milk despite rising public school enrollment.

Mannion also said children older than 4 are not getting the recommended daily dairy as outlined by federal dietary guidelines aimed at promoting stronger bone health, lower blood pressure, and reduced risks of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

By contrast, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit agency represented by about 17,000 physicians, has criticized this legislation, saying that more saturated fats are unhealthy options for children.

Instead, the committee said, Congress should push soy milk as a healthier source of protein, as well as alternative healthy calcium sources such as nuts, kale, broccoli, and fortified orange juice.

In a related action last week, the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments unveiled a new “upside-down” food pyramid that reduces the recommended amount of grains and healthy fats and oils while increasing the recommended amount of meats and vegetables.

Those guidelines, which will be updated every five years, also provide a stronger stance against sugar and alcohol consumption while promoting unprocessed or lesser-processed foods with saturated fats, such as yogurt, cheese, and whole milk.

Previous guidelines contained more sweeping generalizations against all types of saturated fats, federal officials said.